Determinants of Post Stroke Quality of Life: Experiences from a Physiotherapy Unit Clinic, South-South, Nigeria

Introduction: Stroke is a prevalent cardiovascular system event particularly among people of African descent anywhere in the world. The impact of stroke on the life of survivors is multifaceted affecting their quality of physical, mental and social life. In the last four decades, studies reveal that stroke incidence in low- and middle-income countries such as Nigeria have witnessed a double increment in incidence whereas in high-income countries this has declined by over 40% within the same time period. This study aimed to examine the quality of life of stroke survivors in Nigeria and understand the factors that contribute to good quality of life among them.Materials and Methods: In this descriptive cross-sectional study, participants were recruited during physical rehabilitation sessions at two tertiary hospitals in South-South Nigeria. Exclusion criteria included, prior transient ischemic heart attack, recurrent persistent deficit, underlying psychotic and mental disorders, cognitive impairment and those who were handicapped before the stroke event. Tools used for the study were a semi-structured questionnaire and the Stroke Impact Scale (SIS 3.0) which measured the quality of life among stroke survivors. Data were analyzed using both descriptive and inferential statistics. Significance was set at P≤0.05.Results: Most of the respondents (54%) fell within the 56-65years age group with mean age at 59.0(SD = ±9.12). The proportion of the average raw score to the total raw score of all the domains and total quality of life score were all above 50%. The emotions domain had the highest proportion of average to highest possible scores (91%). Analysis of variance (ANOVA) between, socioeconomic and demographic factors, clinical factors and home care on the quality of life of the stroke participants were done to find their association. Age (F = 4.9(P =0.001) and marital status (F = 4.28(P =0.007) the side of lesion (F=8.17; P =0.005), having a previous stroke (F=8,08(P =0.005), the type of stroke (F = 11.37; P =0.001) and all aspects of the at home care with the exception of the hospital payment (F=1.73; L P =0.165) were significantly associated with quality of life. Gender F=3.54(P =0.070) and employment status F = 4.28; P =0.137), diabetes and hypertension had no effect on the quality of life of the patients.Conclusion: The quality of life among stroke survivors in this study, was above average. Spousal support, higher educational qualification, ischemic stroke, were positively associated with good quality of life of stroke survivors in our locality. This study adds to the growing body of research on QOL among stroke survivors within the country. This result will also minimize the gap in evidence-based research on the quality of life of stroke patients, particularly in the South-South region of the Nigeria.